-1Dining halls were where the natural selection process of who was who in high school occurred. There was something in the air that made students, faculty, and anyone who entered divide into the group best suited to their social status. Woe be unto anyone who challenged the natural selection process.

Derek Shepherd was about to do just that. A sense of dread filled him as he followed behind his lab partner. His fingers tighten around the edges of the red plastic tray he carried. Some of the dread, as well as a good majority of the tension his body had tightened up with, eased when Alex Karev passed the jock table. Sure most of the students seated there called for him to grab a chair. Alex just shook his head and kept walking.

Their walk ended at a corner table full of girls. A tall, slender red head with large eyes that looked as though they had seen to much; a girl of Korean descent whose gaze dared anyone to cross her; a too skinny girl with curly light brown hair that leaned toward the frizzy side and doe brown eyes that were full of trust and innocence. The girl with her back to him looked to be nothing more than skin and bones, her blonde hair streaked with a pastel pink.

"Derek, this is my cousin Addison." Alex nodded towards the red head who acknowledged the introduction with a slight nod of her head. "Not sure who the others are." Without waiting for an invite Alex yanks out a chair between the Korean girl and the frizzy haired girl.

Hesitating for a moment, Derek debates whether or not he should grab the chair between Alex's cousin and the girl with pink hair or sit at the nearby empty table. The cousin, Addison, scoots the chair out and offers him a smile. He smiles back, setting his tray down. "I'm Derek."

"So I gathered. This is Cristina." The Korean girl. He earned a glare for the smile he sends her direction. "Izzie." The frizzy haired girl smiles brightly and gives him a little wave. "Meredith." The pink haired girl glances in his direction, her green eyes widening.

No. It couldn't be. Yet, it was. The boat jumper was sitting next to him. She no longer wore the cute blue tank top or khaki shorts but a rather hideous black dress that covered her from neck to ankle. "Meredith and I already know each other, don't we?"

"You do?" Alex looked at him oddly. "I thought you said you didn't know anyone here."

"I didn't realize Meredith would be here. Our last conversation consisted of Meredith's love of taxi cabs and foreign languages." Derek kept his tone light. He could feel her tension next to him. She was no doubt terrified he would spill how they knew each other; that he had saved her from jumping to her death in the Puget Sound on the 4th of July. "Not where we would be going to school. Plus, I was a last minute admission."

"Right. Derek here is a freaking genius. And, he's my lab partner!" There was a hint of pride in the other boy's voice. As though obtaining Derek as a lab partner was something extraordinary.

"Aw. Now all you have to do is find someone good at math and maybe you won't be a complete failure this year," Addison cooed sweetly. A French fry hit her in the face. She blinks then scowls in her cousin's direction. "You are such a loser!"

"I'm good at math." Izzie squeaked out. Her pale cheeks flushed when everyone looked in her direction. Her rail thin body slumps down in the seat.

"How are you at Geometry?"

Derek tuned the rest of the conversation out. Poor girl, smiling like an idiot at handsome Alex who only dated girls that put out. Somehow, he couldn't see sweet little Izzie putting out. He turned his attention to the sullen girl next to him. In a way he was glad she was here. Not a day had passed that he hadn't worried about her. He had gotten in the habit of scanning the Obits, terrified that he would see her name.

She looked up, as though she could sense him staring. He smiles at her, getting a tight lipped one back. Poor girl. So dark and twisty. One day, soon he hoped, he planned on bringing out a brighter side to her life. Showing her that not everything or everyone was against her. If it was the last thing he did, Derek Shepherd would show Meredith Grey she was special.